Scott Wykoff's Blog

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The Coach And The Commandant

What a scene it was at about the 30 yard line on the field at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium just before the Ravens opening training camp practice.

There they were, a pair of boyhood friends and high school football teammates, with big smiles on their faces as they reunited, sharing past memories and current experiences now as leaders of men.

The Coach and Commandant.

Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh side-by-side with Captain Robert Clark, Commandant of Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy.

They know each simply as Johnny and Bob from their days playing high school football together at Pioneer High School in the shadows of the "Big House" of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

There they were, two men who are as respected as much as anyone in each of their chosen professions, like they were teenagers again just talking before a practice.

"The Naval Academy is unbelievable, unbelievable, Commandant Bob Clark, my high school teammate at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School talked to our team before practice, he did a great job talking about leadership and you talk about command presence, he has it, so it has been a great night all the way around."

Guess so!

So Captain Clark, what kind of football player was our coach of the Ravens?

"John was an incredible football player," says the 84th Commandant of Midshipmen at the U. S. Naval Academy. "Just for the record, John is a year younger, but a lot tougher!"

Looking out at the 20,000 fans who turned out to watch the Ravens practice at the home, the 1984 graduate of the United States Naval Academy waxed poetic about his friend from Pioneer High.

"He was a teammate and soul mate and we are so proud of him, where he is at today and the spirit and the winning atmosphere that is the Baltimore Ravens is no surprise to me looking back on my time with John," said Captain Clark whose most recent command tour was as the Commodore of Submarine Squadron Four, the largest fast attack submarine squadron in the Navy.

Special words from a special man about his special friend on a day when Coach Harbaugh was so excited to bring his players out on the same field that Captain Clark's Midshipman call home.

We're talking big time mutual admiration society here.

"Just an incredible amount of pride, it's nostalgic," said the energetic coach of the Ravens in describing the honor of being back together with the high school teammate he is so proud of. "I look back and remember, I see him and he is such great shape right know and I remember a hard hitting inside linebacker who used to just bludgeon running backs. My goal was to just stay out of his way in practice, that was the goal."

Coach Harbaugh said Captain Clark really hasn't changed at all since those days some 3 decades ago as he looks just the same.

"This is so incredible to see John and I am so proud of him," added Captain Clark as he and Coach Harbaugh joined WBAL's Keith Mills on the field right before the Ravens took the field for the team's first ever open practice in Annapolis.

It was some thirty-plus years ago that they parted ways as Bob Clark left Ann Arbor for the Naval Academy Preparatory School and then the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis and John Harbaugh left Michigan to attend Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where both continued their football playing careers.

So what do the Head Coach of the Ravens and the Commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy talk about when they share their experiences over the last 30 years since their playing days in Ann Arbor?

"We are here talking about leadership and we're talking about inspiration and motivation and how to touch people and things like that," said Coach Harbaugh. "And Captain Clark has been doing that his whole career commanding submarines that are defending us from a nuclear stand point all over the world. It is so out of my realm of thinking to imagine the depth of has been accomplished."

The Commandant then wanted to make sure our listeners on WBAL and 98 Rock knew how proud he is of the great things that Coach Harbaugh has done not just for the Ravens but also for the City of Baltimore that he said "are reflected in his spirit".

"Anything that makes a true entity powerful, in this case the Ravens, such an enduring and great team and so much more. I mean you ask anybody in your listening audience show me a Raven, they will point to John or Mr. Lewis or any of those folks" said Captain Clark.

But the Commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy, from his career in the service, knows it doesn't end there.

"As I look out into these stands today it's so much more," adds Clark. "You've got to have great coaches, you have to have great concessionaires, you have to have great PR, great radio, great trainers. You have to have a community that respects and stands behind you."

And clearly as leaders, both Coach Harbaugh and Captain Clark have that and they both know how important that is to success in football and the defense of our country.

"So if you ask the general public, show me a Raven, they're going to point to the purple and black, but in reality, everybody up in these stands are a Raven just as much as Ray Lewis is and they might not have known it, and that's why this team is so enduring," added Captain Clark.

And guess who he then pointed to?

"It's because of the spirit of this guy right here, that has embodied this team and has really solidified this town and that's why this team will be so great and so enduring" said the career a career submariner in the Navy as he put his arm around Coach Harbaugh.

And what about the message that Coach Harbaugh's high school teammate had for the Ravens when he was asked to address the team by the Ravens coach?

"He had them riveted and mesmerized, said John Harbaugh about Captain Clark's pre-practice talk to the Ravens. "He talked about what true greatness is really all about. "It doesn't make you great between the lines, it is reflected between the lines. Greatness is who you are as a man, a father, a husband. That's what defines greatness and obviously this is a great man right here."

What a way to sum up a great reunion of two great friends and high school teammates who just happen to be the Head Coach of the Ravens and the Commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy!